I Wanna See That!: Drive

In this Thursday fixture, I Wanna See That!, I take a look at specific trailers that are both well crafted and have some kind of importance to them beyond just informing you a film is coming soon. This week, hang on tight, because we're going full throttle in analyzing the trailer for the 2011 indie hit Drive.


Sometimes, trailers tell us things we'd rather not know about. Spoilery details can really grate on ones nerves, especially if it's for a movie one is eagerly anticipating. Then, there's the times where trailers don't tell you anything about what the movie truly is, instead disguising it as more conventional fare. This is done plenty of times on smaller indie films, in order to make them more appealing to moviegoers who spend $189 million (in 13 days!!) on Transformers: Age of Extinction, but can't even give The Immigrant the time of day.

Such was the case when  Drive started its promotion, with a trailer that became famous for deceiving moviegoers into seeing an artsy movie by making it look like a traditional action picture. This misleading marketing reached its apex of fame when a woman filed a lawsuit claiming the trailers misrepresented the film to such a degree that was unforgivable. Three years after the dust has settled (I've got no idea how that lawsuit went, and frankly, the stupidity behind it all doesn't warrant further investigation), it's interesting to look at it now, separated from all that negative hype and see a trailer more truthful than many believe.

True, the level of intense violence isn't shown in this particular trailer, but in a green band trailer (which is created to play before movies with a rating of PG-13 or softer) can you really show Ryan gosling bashing In a dudes skull? I was actually kind of surprised to see the films atmosphere somewhat retained even in a 150 second format, though of course it's exceedingly better in the film itself. Still, this ad does tell you that this is a movie with Ryan Gosling, numerous talented actors, a unique beat of its own and some cars.

Perhaps it is not the trailers fault, but in fact the people who went and saw the movie that are the problem here. If a great film like Drive isn't to to your liking, fine, but blaming the marketing team and not the movie itself (which I can't believe anybody wouldn't enjoy on some level) feels ridiculous. The guys behind this trailer did their job pretty effectively actually if you got so invested in the film before even seeing the damn thing to feel betrayed when it didn't live up to your lofty expectations. Even when the public turns their backs to them, Drive helped prove that movie trailers are some of the more powerful tools in Hollywoods shed of creativity.